Conrad odinet



{No Model.)

C. ODINET. VESSEL.

Patented Dec. 22, 1896.

III I- WITNESSES INVENTOH ATTORNEYS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CONRAD ODINET, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

VESSEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 573,690, dated December 22, 1896.

Application filed May 9, 1896. Serial No. 590,871. (No model.)

1'0 (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CONRAD ODINET, of New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Vessels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in the construction of the hulls of vessels, and more particularly to the construction of a propelling device.

The object of the invention is to so shape the bottom of the vessels hull and to so 10- cate a series of propellers at that point that a maximum of speed will be obtained without employing much more power than at present and whereby the vessel will be able to turn as upon a pivot, the propellers being capable of acting substantially as a rudder when necessary.

A further object of the invention is to thoroughly ballast the vessel at thelowest possible point and add stability to the hull and provide a means whereby the propellers will be constantly in the water, working just as well in rough as in calm weather, the propellers being likewise protected from shot or shell and adapted to vessels of any tonnage.

A further object of the invention is to supply a brake in connection with the propelling device, whereby the vessel may be stopped quickly.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a transverse section through a hull of a vessel, the section being taken on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the hull of the vessel. Fig. 3 is a partial side elevation of the forward bottom portion of the hull.

In carrying out the invention a housing B is erected in the central portion of the bottom of the hull, extending from stem to stern, and the keel 10 is laid longitudinally along the bottom face of this housing, preferably at a central point. The keel extends from the stern, and its forward end is carried to the bow, forming a portion of the cut-away, as illustrated in Fig. 4. The keel extends a predetermined distance below the bottom horizontal line of the hull, and a channel 11 is consequently formed at each side of the keel. In each channel a shaft 12 is mounted to revolve in suitable bearings, and the shafts are nearly as long as the channels, each shaft being provided with a predetermined number of propeller-blades 13, and in addition to these bottom propeller-blades the ordinary stern propeller 14 may be employed, if desired.

The shafts 12 may be driven in any approved manner, and steam or electricity may be the motive power. In the drawings each shaft is shown as provided with a beveled gear 15, and these gears mesh with similar gears 16, secured upon shafts 17, extending upward a predetermined distance in the hull, preferably to a point above the lower deck. Each vertical shaft has a gear 18 secured to its upper end, the gears being of equal diameter and in mesh, one of the gears being driven by a smaller gear 10, located on the power-shaft 20.

Near the forward end of each channel 11 a gate 21 is hinged close to the keel, as shown in Fig. 2, and these gates are attached to shafts 22, which extend upward through the housing B and are provided at their upper ends with a handle 23, or levers may be attached to these shafts in order that the gates which are normally folded along the keel, as shown in positive lines in Fig. 2, may be made to extend across the channels, as shown in dotted lines in the same figure, and, by affordin g resistance to the forward movement of the vessel, check its progress or entirely stop the vessel.

Torpedo-catchers may be made to rotate by connection with the propeller-shafts, or, if stationary, to serve as supports for torpedoes to be exploded under the enemys vessel by electricity or other means.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- In the construction of the hulls of vessels, a housing erected longitudinally in the central portion of the hull, forming a depression in the said bottom of substantially rectangular shape in cross-section, akeel laid centrally IOC along the under face of the said housing and extending from bow to stern, dividing the depression into two longitudinal channels, said keel projecting below the horizontal line 5 of the hull, gates located in each channel, operated from the interior of the hull, propellershafts jonrnaled in each channel, extending substantially the length of the same, propellers secured to the shafts, Vertical shafts geared with the propeller-shafts, and a power- 10 shaft geared with the said vertical shafts, as

and for the purpose specified.

CONRAD ODINET.

Vitnesses:

J. FRED. AOKER, JNo. M. BITTER. 

